The former special assistant to Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles has become the first candidate to announce a run to fill the board seat recently vacated by Adam Medrano.

Miguel Solis, a former Dallas ISD teacher who served eight months as Miles’ aide, will vie to represent District 8, an oddly shaped district that represents Love Field, parts of Uptown and a portion of East Dallas. Medrano left his seat in June, when he was elected to the Dallas City Council. The special election is in November.

After months of discussions with many of you and with the parents, students and community members of Dallas ISD District 8, I am excited to announce that I am running for the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees District 8 seat in a special election this November 5th.

As a former Dallas ISD history teacher, a senior leader in Dallas ISD, and an advocate dedicated to ensuring that the students of this city are successful, I know that a high quality education is the key to a bright future. I am running for the Dallas ISD District 8 seat because I want to continue to work with our community to make Dallas’ public education system the best for the 158,000 students it serves.

The work to build on the foundation laid by those who came before me is humbling and hopeful. I am certain that together we can continue to transform the Dallas Independent School District into the best education system in the nation. I know we can do this because our educators, our parents, and our students deserve the best and won’t settle for anything less.

I invite you to join me as we work to support the students of Dallas ISD. During the next few days I will update you on opportunities to become involved with the campaign. Until then, thank you for your support and have a wonderful day.

Dallas ISD trustee Adam Medrano just confirmed that he has filed for a seat on the Dallas City Council.

Medrano is hoping to replace his aunt, Pauline Medrano, who is not running again for the District 2 seat because of term limits. Back in September, Pauline sent her constituents a not-so-subtle hint of Adam’s intent to run for her seat. The election is May 11.

So far, he faces two challengers for the post.

No word yet on what Medrano will do about his board seat. His term doesn’t expire until next year.

He doesn’t have to resign his board seat to run for City Council and could stay on until after the election is decided, according to DISD’s legal office. But he would need to resign if he wins the council seat. Trustees would call for a special election in November to fill his board seat, which is in District 8 and includes Love Field, Northwest Dallas and Central Dallas.

Medrano, a school trustee since 2006, didn’t say much about the council filing during a very brief phone conversation but promised that more information would be coming.

Stay tuned…

Tawnell D. Hobbs writes about the Dallas Independent School District. Follow @Tawnell on Twitter, @DallasISD_News on Twitter and the Education Blog on Facebook. Join our ongoing conversation about Dallas ISD at #TalkDISD on the right side of this page.

DMN City Hall reporter Rudy Bush has uncovered what might be the biggest hint yet that Dallas ISD trustee Adam Medrano might run to fill his aunt’s seat on the City Council.

In 2013, Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano must retire from her seat after eight years — leaving the opportunity for her nephew to run to replace her.

In a cartoonish birthday card Pauline Medrano sent recently, it shows her riding a bike on the Katy Trail and a bald man listening to an iPod running in the opposite direction. He just so happens to look like Adam Medrano. If that’s not enough, the name Adam is written in small print on the shirt along with the No. 2 — Pauline Medrano’s district.

So the only question might be when will Adam Medrano make it official?

Lew Blackburn will be the Dallas ISD school board president for a second straight year.

Dallas ISD school board president Lew Blackburn was elected to a second term as board president Thursday night. Trustees voted 8 to 1 to name him board president, with trustee Carla Ranger not voting for him.

Ranger nominated trustee Adam Medrano for the position. But Medrano said he didn’t want it.

Blackburn, who has been a trustee since 2001, will serve his second-consecutive year as board president. He will help set the board’s meeting agenda and preside over meetings.

Medrano will be the first vice president. The second vice president went to Eric Cowan, with Nancy Bingham becoming the secretary.

I want to thank to the trustees for electing me as Board President, Dallas ISD, for a second term. I appreciate the opportunity to serve.

Dallas ISD trustees say they welcome Mayor Mike Rawlings’ involvement in the DISD superintendent search process but remain mum about his intent to throw money and support behind school board candidates.

In a lengthy Q&A with our Robert Wilonsky yesterday, Rawlings said he’s helped try to find the next Dallas Independent School District superintendent, even going as far as giving the district’s search firm a list of potential candidates he received from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

I just got word from Dallas ISD board president Adam Medrano that trustees will call a board meeting Tuesday night. They will discuss where Dallas ISD goes from here after Superintendent Michael Hinojosa announced Thursday night that he’s the lone superintendent finalist for the Cobb County School District outside Atlanta.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. We’ll let you know what’s on the agenda as soon as it’s posted.

The Dallas school board has called a special meeting to discuss Superintendent Michael Hinojosa being named a finalist to lead schools in the Las Vegas area.

The closed meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday at district headquarters, 3700 Ross Ave. Trustees will have to conduct any votes in open session.

Board president Adam Medrano said the agenda will give trustees the leeway to vote on any issue concerning Hinojosa. Trustees could decide to compete to keep him in Dallas by offering more money or an extended contract, or could come out of the meeting and take no action.

“I think we all need to be in the same room and see where we all need to go from here,” Medrano said.

He said he hasn’t discussed with trustees what action the board should take. Personally, Medrano said losing Hinojosa wouldn’t be good for the district.

“We’d have to do a search and would be kind of in limbo,” he said. “You don’t know how long it could take” to get another superintendent.

Hinojosa is one of three finalists for the Clark County School District job. The other two finalist are Colorado Education Commissioner Dwight D. Jones and James Browder, superintendent of Lee County Public Schools in Florida.

The finalists are scheduled to be interviewed by the board next Thursday with a couple of community forums planned with the candidates on Wednesday. The new superintendent is expected to be named in early October.

Click on this link to review the schedule for the finalists next week. Also included is the rating sheet that members of the community, who attend the forums, will use to score their perception of each finalist.

New information: The agenda for the called meeting has been posted, and it allows the board to decide whether to give Hinojosa a contract extension. Check it out here.

** If you haven’t seen it yet on DISD’s website, click here to check out the picture of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, DISD board president Adam Medrano and David G. Burnet Elementary School principal Shelly Vaughan.

**Our story today on DISD breaking ground this week for two of 14 new schools planned under the 2008 bond program.

** Click here to check out DISD’s schedule for parent-teacher conferences that begin the week of March 8.

** The Houston ISD will extend the school year at a handful of struggling schools under a pilot program this fall. Dallas talked about this at one point, but appeared to back off after determining it would cost a lot more money to keep students in school longer.

** Sad story out of Richardson ISD. A student was run over and killed after she forced her way off a moving school bus.